Mississippi Coast barrier islands have reopened — except for Ship Island
Update 9/25/20: The National Park Service has reopened Petit Bois, West Petit Bois, Horn and Cat islands after a damage assessment involving 38 employees from 22 parks and programs. Ship Island remains closed.
Damage on Ship Island from Hurricane Sally is much worse than it was from Tropical Storm Cristobal in June, said Brent Everitt, a spokesman for the Park Service. The pier will not be able to be repaired in time for Ship Island Excursions to resume boat trips this season, he said. Work will begin immediately on long-term repairs that he said will be designed to more sustainable, possibly with flow-through decking.
A damage assessment crew was on Ship Island Friday to see what “additional assessments and stabilization actions need to be taken.”
Mississippi escaped major damage from Hurricane Sally, but a crew from the National Park Service on Friday discovered a section of Ship Island’s 400-foot pier had been torn apart.
The barrier islands managed by the National Park Service — Petit Bois, West Petit Bois, Horn, Ship and the NPS-owned portion of Cat Island — remain closed for damage assessment and cleanup.
The Davis Bayou portion of the national park in Ocean Springs has reopened and the campground reopened Monday at noon.
Permanent repairs at Ship Island were newly completed from the damage Tropical Storm Cristobal caused to the south end of the pier in June, said Steve McCoy, deputy superintendent for Gulf Islands National Seashore, which spans Florida and Mississippi.
Sally damaged the north end of the pier where Ship Island Excursions docks when the boats ferry passengers from Gulfport out to the island, he said.
“All the other facilities and infrastructure on Ship Island are fine and in good shape,” he said.
Until engineers go out and inspect the damage, he said it’s too early to tell if the repairs to the pier can be made in time for Ship Island Excursions can return for the season.
The season already was cut short twice — first when the coronavirus delayed the start of service in March. And before the first excursion was set to begin in June, Cristobal came along and damaged the pier.
Passengers missed the high season, including Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends. Instead of mid-March, the first trips to the island for 2020 weren’t until July 15.
Captain Louis Skrmetta said the season wasn’t scheduled to end until Nov. 1.
Twice they had to pack up ships and move their three boats and offices to safe harbor because of the tropical weather. He said they’ve also dealt with reduced passenger limits of 50% during the coronavirus.
To stay operational, Ship Island Excursions offers dolphin cruises and sunset cocktail cruises along the Coast.
“People enjoy the 90-minute boat rides along the shore,” he said, and the cruises will continue through Thanksgiving weekend.
McCoy said all the national park’s piers in Florida are demolished and the park’s two ferries that take passengers to Fort Pickens and Pensaola Beach were driven on shore by Sally. The boats will be taken to dry dock for repairs, he said, but they can’t operate again until the slips are rebuilt.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 12:05 PM.
